The Rhythmic Silk
The Rhythmic Silk is a form of music used to commemorate important events originally devised by the human Mebas Groupslip. The form guides musicians during improvised performances. Two chanters recite any composition of The Desserts of Learning while the music is played on a ospram and one to three gopet. The musical voices cover melody, harmony and rhythm. The entire performance is at a walking pace. The melody has phrases of varied length throughout the form. It is performed without preference for a scale and in free rhythm. Throughout, when possible, performers are to use grace notes and alternate tension and repose.
- Each chanter always should evoke tears.
- The ospram always should perform sweetly and makes trills.
- Each gopet always should feel mysterious.
- The Rhythmic Silk has a well-defined multi-passage structure: a first theme, an exposition of the first theme, a lengthy second theme, an exposition of the second theme, a bridge-passage and a synthesis of previous passages.
- The first theme is voiced by the melody of the ospram and the harmony of the chanters. The passage is to become softer and softer. The ospram stays in the slicing low register and each of the chanters' voices stays in the low register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals.
- The first exposition is voiced by the melody of the gopet and the harmony of the chanters. The passage is to become softer and softer. Each of the gopet ranges from the rich middle register to the dark high register and each of the chanters' voices covers its entire range. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage.
- The second theme is voiced by the melody of the ospram and the harmony of the gopet. The passage is to be loud. The ospram covers its entire range from the slicing low register to the crisp high register and each of the gopet stays in the wispy low register. Chords are packed close together in dense clusters in this passage.
- The second exposition is voiced by the melody of the chanters and the rhythm of the gopet. The passage is to be very loud. Each of the chanters' voices stays in the middle register and each of the gopet covers its entire range from the wispy low register to the dark high register. This passage is richly layered with full chords making use of the available range.
- The bridge-passage is voiced by the melody of the chanters, the melody of the gopet and the harmony of the ospram. The passage is to be very soft. Each of the chanters' voices ranges from the middle register to the high register, each of the gopet ranges from the rich middle register to the dark high register and the ospram stays in the slicing low register. This passage features only melodic tones and intervals.
- The synthesis is voiced by the melody of the chanters and the harmony of the gopet. The passage is to start loud then be immediately soft. Each of the chanters' voices stays in the low register and each of the gopet covers its entire range from the wispy low register to the dark high register. This passage typically has some sparse chords.
Events